Winning games in the Pac-10 certainly isn’t easy. Winning games on the road? You probably shouldn’t count on it, unless you’re playing Oregon State.

What this means is that the value of defending home court advantage is that much more important. Stanford’s weekend sweep over the Arizona schools was crucial not only because of the caliber of the opponents — both of the wins against Arizona and Arizona State will certainly help the Cardinal’s RPI rating — or the fact that the team is now just one-half game back in the conference standings. Rather, the most rewarding thing to take away from this weekend’s games is the simple fact that Stanford successfully defended its home court.

In essence, games at home are insurance. If they’re not money in the bank, then you’re in trouble. Home games are the steak and potatoes while road games are gravy.

Although the Cardinal should hope and expect to sweep teams like the Arizona schools at home, if the environments were reversed, we might be pressed to expect the exact opposite result.

Winning on the road is greatly appreciated, but not paramount; losing at home, depending on the opponent, can be unacceptable.

Both games were ugly this weekend, but the Cardinal got the job done at Maples Pavilion. Although the team rode Brook Lopez to both victories, there were promising contributions from other team members: Anthony Goods got back on track a bit with his shooting, Lawrence Hill hit a huge three-pointer in the Arizona game while Landry Fields and Taj Finger (as always) gave the team solid minutes off of the bench. And I would be remiss to leave out Fred Washington, who sealed the game against the Wildcats with two free throws in the waning seconds.

With a 4-2 record in conference, the team now has at least somewhat of a cushion heading into its next three opponents: Cal, Washington and Washington State. All three games will be on the road.

Around College Basketball

-I’ve got an apology to make to, of all people or places, USC. I questioned their ability to play as a team in this section last week, believing they had more star power than substance. But Tim Floyd’s squad proved me wrong at No. 4 UCLA this weekend (in a game I attended, despite my nosebleed seats) in a 72-63 victory. And it wasn’t the heralded O.J. Mayo who was primarily responsible for the Bruins’ undoing.

The “other” Trojan freshman, Davon Jefferson, tore up slower and less athletic Bruin players in the post on his way to scoring 25 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Whether he was dunking on the fast break or getting junk points around the basket, Jefferson helped take UCLA out of its game in the Trojans’ stunning upset.

- If I had to pick a Pac-10 Player of the Year at this very moment, it might be our very own Brook Lopez. Although his numbers may not be as gaudy as others (17 points, eight rebounds a game), so far, no single player in the conference has carried his team the way that Lopez has.

Another big name like Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo or Jerryd Bayless may end up getting the honor at season’s end, but if it comes down to which player is most important to his team, Lopez deserves serious consideration.

- This weekend in college basketball seemed like a page from the past college football season. Despite the fact that the elite teams seem to stand above the rest of the competition this year, Saturday’s action saw a number of upsets and surprising finishes.

No. 1 North Carolina, after steamrolling most of its competition this year, lost at home to a seven-loss Maryland team which had previously lost to such perennial powers as American University and Ohio. As mentioned before, UCLA fell to a six-loss USC team at Pauley Pavilion, No. 3 Kansas received a scare from a mediocre Missouri squad and No. 9 Texas A&M was crushed by 21 points against unranked Kansas State.